Abstract
The number of unprotected urban refugees in Bangkok has grown over the past few years with new migrations of young women, men and families from Somalia and Pakistan. An urban environment can mean opportunity for some but for many the environment can increase vulnerability to exploitation and detention. This study aimed to explore refugees’ experiences in Bangkok, assess agencies’ service delivery models, and strengthen their capabilities to address service gaps. Participants were recruited using purposeful sampling and snowball. Using CBPR, focus groups discussion with Somali and Pakistani refugees (n=63) and individual interviews (n=42) were conducted. Agencies’ staff (n=23) were interviewed regarding challenges in providing services to refugees. Qualitative data analysis revealed four major themes: lack of basic need, problems with legal services, agencies revealed urgent need for shifting from emergency services towards long-term strategies given the protracted immigration status of urban refugees, and the need for a collaborative approach in service provision emerged as an urgent call. Implications to social work practice with urban refugees focusing on potentials for innovative service provision and collective agency responses are discussed.
Highlights
The number of unprotected urban refugees in Bangkok has grown over the past few years with new migrations of young women, men and families from Somalia and Pakistan
In response to the drastic shift in the needs of asylum-seekers in Bangkok, Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) in Thailand collaborated with faculty and students from the University of Utah, College of Social Work in the implementation of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project
Researchers conducted 42 interviews with 63 individuals representing refugee and asylum-seekers from Somalia and Pakistan The team began this project with two aims in mind: (1) Exploring the experiences of Somalis and Pakistanis residing in Bangkok as urban refugees and/or asylum-seekers to assess and better understand formal and informal networks for accessing services, as well as gaps and challenges for obtaining services
Summary
The number of unprotected urban refugees in Bangkok has grown over the past few years with new migrations of young women, men and families from Somalia and Pakistan. The nation has not signed onto the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and does not have a legal framework in place to support asylum-seekers and. Thailand is not one of the states who has signed onto the 1951 Convention, leaving many asylum-seekers who have fled to this country in an extremely vulnerable situation (UNHCR, 2015b). Without signing onto the 1951 Convention and without a legal framework for handling refugees and asylum-seekers, Thailand is left with few options for handling an estimated 130,000 individuals who are asylum-seekers and refugees (UNHCR, 2016; Universal Periodic Review [UPR], 2015)
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